Nearly 80,000 Gallons of Crude Oil Spill Into Alberta Waterway

Nearly 80,000 gallons of crude oil just spilled into a water body north of Slave Lake in Alberta, Canada on Friday. Alberta has more than its fair share of problems due to oil exploration – in 2012, 3,200 barrels of crude oil spilled into Alberta’s Red Deer River, and last year it was revealed that the Alberta tar sands were leaking. This latest spill comes from a pipeline used by Alterra Energy, which is headquartered in Calgary.

The spill contained a mix of crude oil, salt and water. Right now crews are working to contain and remove the chemicals from the water and so far no one has reported any injured or contaminated wildlife, though only time will tell what the full impact of the spill will be.

The 2012 Red Deer River spill impacted fish up to 25 miles away from the spill site and impacted farms and landowners around the area. A recent study revealed that the spill was entirely preventable had the company complied with annual inspection regulation. Greenpeace has criticized Alberta for being weak on regulating polluters, which is particularly important given the high number for oil wells operating in the area.